The Sexiest Man Alive 2011 - Bradley Cooper

Judging from my Twitter replies and inbox, you’re about 50/50 on this. Or less. And there are a lot of you who think Ryan Gosling was overlooked.

I’m telling you, Ryan Gosling doesn’t have the box office to back it up yet. As I wrote in his analysis yesterday, there’s a disconnect between how much quiver he supposedly inspires and how much professional support his admirers are willing to extend him. Like, you people should have been going to see Drive like it was The Notebook. Same goes for The Ides of March. Don’t lie - probably three quarters of you haven’t watched either.

Also... he’s not American.

PEOPLE, as I kept repeating yesterday, has NEVER chosen two back to back non-USAs as the SMA. And it’s also been 20 years since anyone under 30 has been selected. Keep this criteria in mind for next year when, hopefully, it once again won’t be Justin Timberlake who must want it so f-cking bad, like that would validate him as a proper movie actor. Did I mention I sat through Friends With Benefits on the plane? Seriously, it has to be a practical joke. The Pip canNOT act.

And, again, not Jon Hamm. Just as it wasn’t ever Patrick Dempsey. Why? Because they are TELEVISION ACTORS. It’s a major, major factor.

As for Bradley Cooper...

It’s a major win for his team, certainly. As noted yesterday - click here to revisit my handicap of his chances - despite his modest gains, the ultimate career goal for Coop is to be on level with Leonardo DiCaprio. And, well, we are far, far from there.

Interestingly enough, Leo never needed the SMA. Wouldn’t you love to know who turned it down? How many others they offered it to first? There is NO WAY they wouldn’t have offered it to him - at least 3 years ago, if not more. And I wonder, at the time, if he was like, please, stop asking me. Like I’ve always said - the SMA needs to be accepted, it needs to come with a willing YES, and that willing yes should be accompanied by an interview and cutesy little details about his mom or his wife or both which ...Bradley Cooper certainly delivered.

PS. In what world is Bradley Cooper sexier than Idris Elba who actually made the list (yay!) but who would never, ever go over with the MiniVan Majority.

PPS. JLo is totally taking credit for this.

Click here for more on PEOPLE’s SMA feature. And also attached - Coop in Philadelphia last night leaving the set of The Silver Linings Playbook.